Recommended Software (Windows)
Productivity
- Diagram Designer — flowcharting software.
- Open Office — if you don’t have Microsoft Office applications, this works in a pinch.
- Adobe Acrobat Reader — the de facto choice for reading PDFs on Windows.
Internet
- PuTTY — Telnet / SSH client.
- Firefox — Web browser.
- Thunderbird — Email client.
- WinSCP — SCP / SFTP client.
- Filezilla — FTP client.
- GAIM — multi-protocol instant messenger client.
- uTorrent — a powerful BitTorrent client.
- HTTrack — web site copier for offline reading.
- Remote Desktop Client For Windows — if you want to connect to a Windows XP or newer desktop remotely, and are using a version of Windows older than XP, then you’ll need this.
Multimedia
- iTunes — CD ripper, MP3 manager, audio player, and music store, rolled into one.
- K-Lite Codec Pack — installs the codecs you probably need for video playback, and can even include alternatives for Real and Quicktime. Make sure to install Media Player Classic, too!
- Real Player — sure, it’s evil, but you probably won’t beat it for playing back the newest Real Video and Real Audio files.
- Quicktime — you’ll probably need this to play Quicktime or Apple DRMed files.
- Riva Player — useful for playing FLV files, such as downloaded YouTube videos.
- Hoversnap Screenshot Capture — great for taking screenshots quickly and easily.
Development
- TortoiseCVS — graphical CVS management.
- GNU Emacs for Windows — powerful text editor for the techies.
- Cygwin — Linux-like development environment for Windows, and useful for its X-server as well.
- ActivePerl — Perl for Windows.
Utilities
- 7-Zip — utility to decompress archives.
- Eraser — If you’re paranoid, securely wipe data from your hard drive.
- CCleaner — remove unnecessary temporary files and clean the registry.
- Ad-Aware Personal — spyware cleaner.
- Spybot Search & Destroy — spyware cleaner.
- Avast! Home Edition — virus scanner.
- Password Generator — program to generate reasonably secure passwords.
- StrokeIt — add mouse gestures to Windows.
- SetBrowser — tool to help with setting the default web browser in Windows, since it doesn’t always work correctly.
- Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP — a whole slew of freeware from Microsoft including an image resizer, a clear type tuner, a webcam timer, a virtual desktop manager, and more.
- TightVNC — remote desktop control software (both client and server). This is not terminal server or remote desktop protocol.
- Daemon Tools — virtual CD-ROM emulation, so you can store the CD image on your hard drive.
- Alcohol 52% — virtual CD-ROM emulation.